Ancients
Marcus Junius Brutus, as moneyer (54 BC). AR denarius (18mm, 3.76 gm, 10h). NGC AU 5/5 - 4/5. Rome. BRVTVS, bare head of L. Junius Brutus (consul 509 BC) right / AHALA, bare head of C. Servilius Ahala (master of horse, 439 BC) right. Crawford 433/2. Sydenham 907. RSC Junia 30. Attractively toned and possessing two excellent portraits.
During his term as Moneyer in 54 BC, Marcus Junius Brutus issued two denarius types that would prove to be remarkably prophetic in a decade's time. This type celebrates his illustrious ancestors, including the Lucius Junius Brutus, the first Consul of Rome, who in 509 BC initiated the conspiracy that overthrew the city's last king, Tarquin the Proud. The reverse honors Gaius Servilius Ahala, who in 439 BC used a dagger concealed in the folds of toga under his arm to slay Spurius Maelius, a wealthy patrician who had plotted to make himself king. In 44 BC, Brutus would undertake a conspiracy to slay another tyrant, Julius Caesar, in which the conspiring senators concealed daggers within their togas.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 1500-2000 USD